‘Madden’ Is a Sports Gaming Dynasty, But It Almost Wasn’t

Impact. It’s a word that floats around any discussion involving John Madden. You could be talking about his tenure as a NFL head coach, or the 30-plus year legacy of the video game franchise that bears his name, or just listening to how he would describe a defensive end plowing into a quarterback for a sack. Eventually, if Madden‘s involved, the word “impact” is going to come up. 

It’s also a word ingrained into the soul of It’s In The Game: Madden NFL, a four-part Prime Video documentary that explores the history of the gaming’s biggest football franchise. Each of the series’ four episodes dives into the different aspects surrounding the creation and evolution of the video game stalwart, from its humble beginnings to the annual juggernaut it is now. However, the documentary also takes time to explore the man whose name adorns the cover, both on the field as a Super-Bowl-winning coach, and off the field as a surprisingly major force behind the video game’s success.

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To get more insight on the documentary and its vision, Rolling Stone sat down with executive producer FredAnthony Smith, as well as Electronic Arts’ General Manager of American Daryl Holt, to explore the story of the game, its overarching legacy, and (yes) the impact of John Madden on both.

An underdog story

It may sit in rarified air now, but the beginning of the Madden NFL story is anything but smooth sailing. Smith even calls it an “underdog story,” something you’d never expect to be associated with the franchise now.

“Growing up as a kid, you don’t really think about these things, but the fact is that Madden wasn’t inevitable,” Smith says. “There was Joe Montana Football, there was Tecmo Super Bowl, there were other football games there in the beginning and that have come since like NFL 2K, so it wasn’t inevitable that Madden was going to be the one that was left standing.” 

The question of, “How did that happen?” is the main focus of the documentary, right from the first game’s development, and a key part of it, to Smith’s surprise, was how involved Madden himself was in the process. “There’s the story of [Electronic Arts founder] Trip Hawkins wanting to do seven-on-seven for the first game, and Madden saying ‘We’re not doing that,’ that blew my mind,” Smith explains.

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To accommodate the technical limitations of the time, 7-player teams would’ve been easier than the eleven in real life, but Madden wouldn’t have it. “It’s a very interesting historical story, and learning about it shows that it didn’t have to be Madden; it could have very easily been Joe Montana Football we’re talking about today, or even Tecmo Bowl 25.”

The man himself

That hands-on approach isn’t the only aspect of John Madden explored in the documentary. The story goes to great lengths to highlight the man himself, in every aspect of his life, in order to appeal to as many viewers as possible. 

It’s a wise decision; some older viewers remember him on the sidelines, barking orders at his Oakland Raiders as he led them to victory in Super Bowl XI over the Minnesota Vikings. Eighties and Nineties kids will recall his booming voice next to Pat Summerall in the Fox NFL Sunday booth as he hurriedly drew yellow lines on the screen to explain what was going on below them. 

Others still, the youngest among us, only know Madden for one thing: The annual football game that’s become more about a brand than the man. This isn’t exclusive to John Madden, of course — Smith tells a story about how one of his production assistants called Dr. Dre “the Beats guy” while he performed at Super Bowl LVI — but it was one of the biggest challenges the production team decided to tackle early on. 

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“So many people grow up on the video game, and they have no idea that [Madden] had this long legacy in the game of football,” Smith says. “That legacy is why his being attached to this video game really elevated it; it gave the video game a sense of authenticity, especially since he wasn’t just signing his name on something that somebody else was doing. He was in the weeds in the meetings, walking the programmers through how to make it as authentic as possible.”

No perfect seasons

Despite being endorsed by EA Sports themselves, It’s In The Game pulls no punches as it travels through the history of the game. The first console version of Madden was created after a programmer reverse-engineered a Sega Genesis, which allowed EA to develop the game without a license from Sega. Soon after, we learn that the final version of Madden NFL ‘95 — the first one ever to feature actual player names — was sent for production before an agreement with the NFL Players Association had been reached. Both of these could have landed EA in legal hot water, but ultimately worked to their benefit.

Later on, the documentary even gives screen time to some of Madden‘s toughest competition over the years, namely Sega Sports and NFL 2K, and interviews representatives from both companies to talk about going head-to-head with Madden. Some may wonder if EA might take offense to that spotlight, but according to Smith, the company was fully on board. 

“They were amazing partners,” Smith says. “They knew the story that we were looking to tell, which is a story that celebrates this legacy and celebrates what they do day in and day out.” Smith further explains that their feedback was “minimal,” less about content and more about using the right footage with the right situation. 

For EA’s part, Daryl Holt says that honesty was the best policy. “If you’re going to celebrate the legacy [of Madden], if you’re going to understand that game and what it takes to make it today, you have to understand where it came from yesterday.” Holt says. “It’s about being as transparent as possible, and showing the unique challenges of bringing something like this to market from back in the 8-bit days to today. Those stories are what makes it so incredible that it’s over 36 years old and counting.”

“We’ve opened up the vaults in the archives,” Holt continues, ” with photos and videos to try and really showcase just how important this franchise is to us, how important it’s the players, and how it’s important to football players and the culture of football itself.”

Then and now

It’s In The Game doesn’t just follow the history of the entire Madden franchise; it also chronicles the development of Madden NFL 25 (2024), the most recent entry in the vaunted franchise, although it confusingly shares a name with 2013’s Madden entry, which celebrated the series’ 25th anniversary. Historical stories recounted by legacy EA names like Trip Hawkins and Gordon Bellamy run parallel to a behind-the-scenes look at the current development cycle, with director Clint Oldenburg —  a former NFL player himself — and other current EA Sports employees making regular appearances. 

Telling these stories together was a key focus for Smith and his team from the very beginning, as they wanted to be sure to spotlight the people currently working on the game. “We wanted to show just how hard it is to get the game out on any given year,” Smith said, specifically mentioning the year Madden NFL ’96 missed launching on the brand-new PlayStation console. “The people that do it are the very best at what they do, and they are working 24/7, 365 to get that game out.”

While there will always be critics, Smith says, “it’s important to give the people making the game their flowers.” This decision isn’t just to show what goes into the game, though, as Smith also wanted to highlight how they’re looking to do something new every year too. “Every year, there’s a cycle: ‘How are we? How are we going to improve on what we did last year? What do we learn from last year and the year before? How do we improve on that?’”

The future of Madden

When talking about Madden going forward, Daryl Holt says the team will continue to focus on making the game as authentic to the real thing as possible, just as John Madden himself would have wanted. “I think the legacy of coach Madden lives on in our predictive modeling through our Super Bowl predictions, and in our ability to help with coaching, like when [Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin calls us and says ‘Hey, what do the new kickoff rules look like’ before it’s ever seen in a real game,” Holt says. “Those types of things are really interesting touch points as we continue to strive to deliver that reality in the game itself.”

As for Smith and his team, the intersection of hip-hop culture and gaming culture presented in It’s In The Game has his documentarian gears spinning. “Video games, the culture in general, is interesting,” Smith says. “Whether it’s rappers, athletes, comedians, other entertainers, everyone is gaming. You’ll watch these shows, and in the background, you’ll see somebody playing Madden.” 

“Gaming has become this part of our lives that, in some ways, we take for granted,” Smith continues. “They’re just things you have in your house now, or in your office now; wherever a TV is, a game console is probably connected to it. It’s a way of life, especially in American culture, and it has become so ingrained in who we are, that doing a deeper dive on that is probably worth exploring.”

Whatever gaming-related project Smith decides to tackle next, there’s no doubt that a franchise like Madden NFL, and the — once more, with feeling — impact it’s had on gaming at large, will be a major focal point. If you need proof, well, “it’s in the game.”

It’s In The Game: Madden NFL is now streaming on Prime Video. Madden NFL 25 is playable on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.